place and plant driven herbal goods

One small step at a time

Beholden as we are to the weather here, rainy days can either be a blessing or a curse, or if it all comes around, a blessing in disguise. The farmer is in busy squirrel mode, really putting in 110% in the fields these days, feeling the end of summer rolling in like a dark cloud. Usually, there is a sense of anticipation for the coming change, the quieting down. This year things have been far more balanced for us, no one has felt too busy to stand it anymore; and so this year, the farmer has the wish to just keep things going as they are. The worry about what winter will bring to the farm is far more concerning to him than the long work days, already growing shorter. Will the plantings in the ground now sustain us…all of us, through the “off” season?

As much as these thing weigh on my shoulders too, the brisk morning air is a welcome feeling. The image of rainy days, warm fires, and the more concentrated schedule of the fall and winter pull me in like a sweet dream. There is this year, a sense that we have made enough headway to keep the ball rolling, that there won’t be the inevitable set back of dividing our attentions in the fall and winter between side work and farm work, that we can keep all of our energy focused here, both the farmer on the farm and the mama on the home. It is a good feeling, and although it is rightly counterbalanced by the worry and planning and busyness, we are right where we want to be this year. After last winter’s wild weather, after late tomatoes and small carrots and onions pulled too soon, we know that only time will tell how things will unfold. Telling the future on the farm is a risky proposition, the vision we hold for the coming seasons only able to include the input from our end of the business arrangement we hold with the elements, unpredictable as they are.

This weekend, the rain brought everyone inside for more time than we are used to, but with questions being put to us about what we will be doing this fall and winter, it was a good time to come together to finally decide these things. Ever since our children were born, we have chosen to live very simply, to try to just be with them while they are little and recognize that with patience, the things that we want to do for the world can be given more of our attention when they have grown. We are the epitome of the old adage, “slow and steady”. It has been hard, many times both for our pocketbooks and our pride to take things slow, but our reflections this weekend convinced us that all of this is right for us. For our family, this is working, and so, we will continue to go the course, knowing that our plans for this place are being realized one small step at a time.